Jimmy Kay from Canada's The Metal Voice spoke to Flotsam And Jetsam guitarist Michael Gilbert and drummer Ken Mary about the band's new album, I Am The Weapon, and the trends and changes in the music industry over the years.
When asked to compare today's US metal scene to the rest of the world:
Ken Mary: "If you look at Europe they're open, they never stopped loving metal, and the weird thing in the United States I feel like metal is actually squashed on social media, on things like YouTube. I think they restrict metal. I'm not sure exactly why or what the reasoning is, but metal is huge everywhere else in the world (except the USA). Let's take a band like Arch Enemy for instance: they'll play huge festivals in Europe. They'll play in front of half a million people in South America, huge shows in Japan. They come to the United States and Play House of Blues with a thousand people. So you tell me what's going on? How can a band and how can a genre be huge everywhere else but not in the United States? It seems kind of squashed to me.
There's a few bands here and there that are doing okay, but by and large there's a whole genre that is not doing well. I think the fans (in he USA) aren't as connected as in Europe. There's a huge metal scene and everybody is connected and everybody goes to the festivals, and everybody loves the music, and it really doesn't matter... are you thrash metal? Are you melodic metal? Whatever you are, the fans embrace everything. They're not going, 'Okay, I'm only a thrash metal fan, so I will only listen to thrash metal.' I think that happens maybe a little more in the United States, too, where somebody goes 'Okay, I like only a specific genre, a very specific area of a genre and I'm not going to listen to anything else.' I think that happens maybe a little bit more in the US, but I do think in terms of the mechanics of the industry I think that there is an effort in my opinion to elevate things like rap and pop, and to sort of push metal to the wayside. Like I said, there's a few bands here and there that kind of buck the trend but for the most part that's what I'm seeing in the United States."
I Am The Weapon was composed and produced by the whole band and the eleven new songs were recorded at SonicPhish Productions, Gnome Lord Studios, Wayne Manor Studios, and Seventh Spike Studios. The cover artwork was again created by Andy Pilkington.
Order your copy of this must-have album, one that belongs into every well-sorted metal record collection, here.
"This entire record was special to us, and we did our best to make music that inspired us first and foremost," the band comments. "We all genuinely love this record, and every song on the record, so hopefully our listeners feel as strongly as we do."
"Thank you so much for your support, your love, and your encouragement for the last 40 years. You are the reason we continue to tour and to make music! You are the best, and we will continue to fight for the music as long as we have breath!
I Am The Weapon tracklisting:
"A New Kind Of Hero"
"Primal"
"I Am The Weapon"
"Burned My Bridges"
"The Head Of The Snake"
"Beneath The Shadows"
"Gates Of Hell"
"Cold Steel Lights"
"Kings Of The Underworld"
"Running Through The Fire"
"Black Wings"
"The Head Of The Snake":
"A New Kind Of Hero" video:
"Burned My Bridges":
"Primal" video:
"I Am The Weapon" lyric video:
It’s been almost 40 years since Flotsam And Jetsam, formed in Phoenix, Arizona released their landmark debut, Doomsday For The Deceiver, the only album to ever receive a 6K rating from the influential British magazine Kerrang! Bassist Jason Newsted would jump ship to Metallica while the band released the unstoppable No Place For Disgrace in 1988. Cuatro (1992), Drift (1995), High (1997), and My God (2001) all still rank extremely high in heavy metal circles. But it was the first part of this unofficial trilogy in 2016’s self-titled Flotsam And Jetsam that a certain rejuvenation and reset was clearly felt.
Fast-forward five years to a planet that was forced to its knees. While spending most of the pandemic times in a holding pattern like the rest of the world, Flotsam And Jetsam made the best of a struggling situation and just let those creative juices and angst flow. What emerged was the much-acclaimed Blood In The Water, released in 2021 via AFM Records.
(Photo - Shane Eckart)
